NAME CHANGES
Alexander the Great was one of the great military generals who led a mighty army in the fourth century B.C. One night, he was unable to sleep. He started walking around the encampment and saw a young soldier on guard duty who was asleep. The penalty for sleeping on guard duty could be death.
Alexander woke up the young soldier, and, when asked if he knew about the penalty for sleeping on duty, the soldier said, “Yes.”
Alexander asked, “What’s your name?”
The soldier answered, “Alexander, Sir.”
At that time, Alexander the Great repeated the question two more times about his name, and each time the soldier said, “My name is Alexander.”
Alexander the Great looked the young man straight in the eyes and said, “Soldier, either change your conduct or change your name.”
Mina Bendary is a Christian soccer player in Egypt. He is a very good player, but he suffered rejection from clubs because of his name.
Mina is known as a Christian name. In order to play on the Alexandria Union Club, Mina was asked to play under the name “Ibrahim.” He said, “The turning point in my life was when my church blamed me for accepting this situation (changing my name), so I decided to have my own team to embrace the talents of Christian players who are suffering from the same problem and to help them follow their dreams.”
He added, “I decided to retire playing soccer, as I refuse to play for a club under another name. And then I thought about establishing a new club that does not have tight constraints to join.”
He started the Je Suis Club so Christians could play, keeping their names and identities.
The early believers received a new name when they were first called Christians at Antioch. (Acts 11:26) If you are a Christian, that indicates that your name depicts a certain kind of lifestyle and a certain set of values. It’s important to live out the meaning of your name.
In the movie Air Force One, the President’s Boeing 747 was hijacked by terrorists. Most people, except the President and his family on Air Force One, were killed. Radio contact was lost. Air Force One then lost some engines and was going down.
A smaller plane named Liberty 2-4 appeared, and a zipline was connected to rescue the President and his family. As radio contact was re-established, the pilot of the smaller plane said, “Liberty 2-4 is changing call signs. Liberty 2-4 is now Air Force One.”
The smaller plane became Air Force One because of the presence of the President. We become and are named Christians because of the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)
So here’s the important question – If the presence of Jesus in your life has changed your name to Christian, are there any conduct changes that need to be made in your life to make your conduct consistent with your name?
